232 



EICE-PAPER PLANT. 



Chap. XL 



vessel I had been examining with a spy-glass some 

 large white flowers which grew on the banks and 

 on the hill-sides, and I now went in that direction, 

 in order to ascertain what they were. When 

 I reached the spot where they were growing, they 

 proved to be very fine specimens of Lilium japoni- 

 cum — the largest and most vigorous I had ever 

 seen. As I was admiring these beautiful lilies, 

 which were growing as wild as the primroses in 

 our woods in England, another plant of far more 

 interest caught my eye. This was nothing less 

 than the rice-paper plant — the species which pro- 

 duced the far-famed rice-paper of China, named by 

 Sir W. Hooker Aralia papyrifera. It was growing 

 apparently wild ; but the site may have been an 

 old plantation, which was now overgrown with 

 weeds and brushwood. The largest specimens 

 which came under my notice were about five or 

 six feet in height, and from six to eight inches in 

 circumference at the base, but nearly of an equal 

 thickness all up the stem. The stems, usually 

 bare all the way up, were crowned at the top with 

 a number of noble-looking palmate leaves, on 

 long footstalks, which gave to the plant a very 

 ornamental appearance. The under side of each 

 leaf, its footstalk, and the top part of the stem, 

 which was clasped by these stalks, was densely 

 covered with down of a rich brown colour, which 

 readily came off upon any substance with which it 

 came in contact. I did not meet with any plant 

 in flower during my rambles, but it is probable the 



